can u not cuss plz my mom will be rly mad if she hears u swore ok!!
driven out by the stifling heat of her mother's preferred haunt in the weir, astara had sought more temperate climes in the form of the ruddy copse that flanked the still marshes. she had very little love for water, even as a five month old cub - and took great care to avoid any puddle as she made her descent across the low-lands.
as she picked her way without much purpose, she came across kove; or rather, he had come across her during one of her many pauses to inspect a curious twig, root, or stone. cicero might roll in his grave to learn that the cub considered kove more familiar than her own family's dawning: relmyna had no tongue in which to share the lore of her forefathers, and astara was largely ignorant to the customs of "mother" and "father". kove was simply, kove; a figure that was familiar, and welcome - and somehow, a presence more weighted than any other presence in the woods.
once she recognized the male she whined submissively and wriggled her way towards him, tail beating at her hips as she aimed several joyous (and obnoxious) leaps at his muzzle in kisses.
nudges were definitely not enough to settle the darkling, but after a few over-exuberant licks of kove's nose astara allowed herself to be subdued.. if only temporarily. there was not much discipline doled in her life, and she wriggled against the plush fur of blackfeather's patriarch as he spoke.
language was something the girl would likely never command; not verbally, anyway -- her mother's tongue was that of the body and mind, and that, astara would speak with a keen and practiced ease. yet words meant little to her, though she recognized the pattern of tones that signified her was referring to her. she looked up to him, canting her head all the way back on her brittle neck, her ears flopping absurdly on her back as she gave him a wide beam and then leapt for his nose again like a little piranha.
aha! the little shark's ploy had gone to plan, and kove only just avoided a cronch on his nose in the nick of time. instead her teeth clasped thick ruff; her hold was firm, but not harsh -- yet before she knew it, she was dragged along like an inconsequential load.
well, that wasn't very fun - he seemed ultimately unaffected by the new weight jointly held to him, and that wouldn't do. her ears fell to her skull as she planned her next move, releasing him abruptly and tumbling into the dirt.
for a moment she settled there, all four limbs resting against the ground as her mind worked a plan; and then it came to her as his tail swung near her. impish delight across her features exposed her plan, but she was already in action -- with a lunge she aimed for the frills of his elegant tail, regardless of consequence.